style="font-size:15px;"> She needed to stop dreaming, before she embarrassed herself.
What was the matter with her? Normally, she was realistic and practical. Even if she were single with no responsibilities, she wouldn’t have allowed herself to be tempted by this man.
His life was so far removed from hers, it was laughable.
She could just imagine his reaction if she were to invite him to the ball. His polite refusal would no doubt become her second most embarrassing moment ever, after being overheard discussing sex with Anna.
‘I’ll see you in a minute, Mr Lucarelli.’ She lifted the bag that had slipped off her shoulder and his eyes narrowed.
‘Stefano,’ he purred in a disturbingly male voice. ‘My name is Stefano. Why does everyone keep calling me Mr Lucarelli? The emergency department is a very informal place to work.’
‘Well, you’re extremely senior and you’re also relatively new so I suppose people are wary about being too familiar, and some people find you—’ She broke off and backed towards the staffroom. ‘I really need to change.’
‘Wait.’ His fingers closed over her arm. ‘You didn’t finish your sentence. Some people find me…?’
She hesitated. ‘Intimidating. Just a little.’
‘Intimidating? Me?’ His dark eyes were lazily amused. ‘I’m a pussycat.’
‘Technically, so is a tiger,’ Liv said dryly and he laughed.
‘Providing people do their jobs correctly, I promise to keep my claws sheathed.’ His gaze lingered on her face. ‘You say “some people”. Not you?’
Did he know that he was still holding her arm? ‘I like the fact you have high standards. It means you’re one less thing I have to worry about when I’m in Resus. I’m a control freak.’
He laughed. ‘Likewise.’
‘Two control freaks working in the same room could be a disaster.’
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘Not if they were working towards the same objective. That would make them a powerful team, I think.’ He sounded impossibly Italian and she sucked in a breath and eased her arm away from his grip.
‘I’d better get changed or they’ll be wondering where I am.’
Liv took refuge in the staffroom, slung her bag in the locker, quickly changed into her uniform and stared at herself in the mirror.
Her heart was thumping and her arm was tingling where he’d touched her.
Take a look at yourself, she told herself, standing square to the mirror. Remember who you are. Twenty-eight-year-old single mother. Nothing special. Now remember who he is. Extremely good-looking rich guy with a taste for skinny actresses.
Get a grip, Liv.
IT WAS past ten o’clock before Stefano was finally able to leave the emergency department.
It had been a chaotic evening, with two serious car accidents in quick succession placing enormous demands on the already overstretched staff.
Fortunately for him, Liv had been working in Resus with him and things had run amazingly smoothly.
As he walked across the car park, the ground sparkled with frost and the sky was clear enough to warn him that it was going to be another cold night. Mentally he braced himself for a spate of accidents in the morning as drivers hit black ice.
From across the car park came the splutter and cough of an engine that didn’t want to start and he saw Liv sitting in a small car, her scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, her breath forming clouds in the cold air.
Stefano tensed, instinctively suspicious.
On at least two occasions in the past, women had faked car problems in order to wangle a lift home with him.
He took a closer look at the car and decided that this particular bout of engine trouble couldn’t possibly be anything but genuine. The car was ancient and there was a significant amount of rust at the base of the door. He wasn’t surprised that it wouldn’t start. What surprised him was that she’d managed to drive it to the hospital in the first place.
Stefano strode across to her and pulled open the door, amazed that it didn’t come off in his hand. ‘Problems?’ He waited for her to give a sigh of relief and ask him for a lift, but instead she just shook her head.
‘I’m fine,’ she said firmly. ‘But thanks for asking. Have a good evening, Mr Lucarelli. See you tomorrow.’
Fine? See you tomorrow? Astounded by her reaction, Stefano rested an arm on the top of the driver’s door and leaned down so that he could talk to her properly. ‘That engine doesn’t sound fine to me.’
He should walk away. She was encouraging him to walk away.
So why didn’t he do just that?
‘It’s a little temperamental, that’s all. It likes to keep me guessing.’ With a determined look on her face, she turned the key in the ignition again. The car gave a feeble cough and then there was nothing.
‘Liv, there’s temperamental and there’s dead. Your engine is dead.’
‘It can’t be.’ She slumped in her seat, a desperate look in her eyes. ‘It just hates cold weather, that’s all. If I leave it for a moment, it will start.’
Her teeth were chattering, her lips had a bluish tinge and Stefano reached into the car and gently removed the keys from her frozen fingers. ‘This car is not going to start. I’ll give you a lift wherever you want to go.’ He wondered what it was about this particular woman that made him say things he wouldn’t normally dream of saying.
But instead of accepting his offer with relief and gratitude, she shook her head firmly.
‘Absolutely not.’ She gathered her things together. ‘I’ll be fine, Mr Lucarelli, honestly. But thanks for checking on me. I’m sure you have somewhere you need to be. Please don’t hang around on my account.’
She was refusing his offer of help?
Finding himself in completely unknown territory, Stefano didn’t know whether to be amused or exasperated. ‘And what do you plan to do? Sleep here until your next shift?’
‘I’ll take the underground. The train runs very close to my house.’
Her black coat was at least two sizes too big, but he caught a glimpse of slim legs in black tights and black boots. She looked more like a teenager than a mother with a young child. ‘You’re not taking the train.’ The thought of her travelling on the underground horrified him. ‘I’m giving you a lift.’ He leaned across her, swiftly undid her seat belt and gently tugged her out of the car.
‘Mr
